Austin Robert Butler was born on August 17, 1991 in Anaheim, California to his parents, Lori Anne, who is an aesthetician and David Butler, where he is the youngest of two children where his older sister, Ashley Butler also did some background acting with him in Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide.
Growing up in Anaheim, Austin attended public school until the seventh grade and enjoyed all types of movies across all genres but it was not until he was at the Orange County Fair with his stepbrother when he was thirteen, that they were approached by a representative from a Background Acting Management Company and Austin attended the audition with him, where the agent helped him get started as he asked if Austin wanted to do the audition as well. This was his start in the entertainment industry and where he discovered his dream of acting.
Soon after being discovered, he began to hone his craft further by partaking in acting classes and went into homeschooling as he enjoyed his new path. Austin found a quick permanent fixture in a recurring background talent the following year as he starred in over forty episodes of Ned’s Declassified: School Survival Guide throughout 2005 until 2007 as Zippy Brewster, when the show ended.
I was always really shy. (…) I found that when I was a kid, I would hide behind playing pretend. That’s when I would come out of my shell. (…) So I ended up stumbling into acting. It was the one thing that I found a passion for.
– Austin Butler, 2016.
Through Ned’s Declassified, He continued homeschooling until the tenth grade and passed the CHSPE to earn his high school diploma. Austin also met Lindsay Shaw, who is one of the main stars of the show. where she introduced him to her manager, Pat Cutler, where Pat would immediately offer to represent Austin as a serious actor.
Austin would continue to star in guest appearances and small recurring roles over the next few years as he starred in Hannah Montana as Toby and Derek Hanson among two different episodes, iCarly as Jake Krandle, Out of Jimmy’s Head as Lance, the short film The Faithful as Danny and Zoey 101 as James Garrett before he landed his first starring role as Jordan Gallagher in the short-lived series, Ruby & the Rockits from 2009.
My dad gave me a guitar when I was 13 years old, and I obsessed about it. (…) I played the piano as well, I picked that up about a year after the guitar.
– Austin Butler, 2022.
He also made his film debut in 2009 alongside his first main role in television, Ruby & the Rockits, where he would co-star with Ashley Tisdale for the first of two movies in Aliens in the Attic. After such a big start of the year, Austin would go through more guest roles over the following year as he appeared in Zeke and Luther as Rutger, Wizards of Waverly Place as George, JONAS as Stone Stevens, CSI: Miami as Jason Chapman, The Defenders as Cody Dennis and another larger recurring role as Jones Mager in Life Unexpected from 2010 until 2011, when the show ended.
The rest of 2011 continued on a high note as he starred in one of his more known roles as Peyton Leverett in Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure, CSI: NY as Benjamin Gold and The Bling Ring as Zack Garvey. After his role in Switched at Birth as James “Wilke” Wilkerson, Austin would switch slightly more to films as he would star in My Uncle Rafael as Cody Beck, Life Life in in Space Space as Assistant Shnotzy, The Intruders as Noah Henry and Yoga Hosers as Hunter Calloway, while also gathering more main roles as Sebastian Kydd in The Carrie Diaries and The Shannara Chronicles as Will Ohmsford and a short stint on Arrow as Chase.
Film and television are just different. Film is cool because its a complete package. You know the beginning, middle, and end. You can plan it out more, which I like.
– Austin Butler.
During the non-stop work between Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure and The Shannara Chronicles, he would make his theater debut in the Theater premiere of Death of the Author, that ran for a month of shows between May and June 2014 in the Geffen Playhouse as he portrayed the role of Bradley. Austin would return to Theater in 2018 to portray Don Parritt in The Iceman Cometh that would run for fourteen weeks from April 26 until July 1.
After The Shannara Chronicles was cancelled, Austin would continue to do more movies as his television career would be on the backburner for a while as he made notable appearances in Dude as Thomas, The Dead Don’t Die as Jack, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood as Tex Watson and his now most notable role of his entire career which earned him a Golden Globe win where Austin portrays Elvis in the biopic, Elvis.
